Hundreds recall no-nonsense schools leader

During more than three decades as a teacher, principal and school administrator, William Dandy earned a reputation as a passionate advocate and stern taskmaster with a gruff exterior.

But the man who helped integrate Broward County schools also was kind and caring, and friends considered him a big teddy bear.

That's the man nearly 800 people -- including state representatives, School Board members and parent activists -- gathered to remember Monday at Mount Olive Baptist Church.

Mr. Dandy, 79, died last week after recently undergoing brain surgery and suffering a stroke.

With more laughter than tears, those in attendance celebrated his life and accomplishments. In a two-hour service, many were reminded of his signature baritone as the choir sang, told of his no-nonsense demeanor, and how they feared him like a child fears his father.

And though Mr. Dandy and his wife of 46 years had no children, it was obvious Monday that they were like parents to the community.

"Mr. Dandy is present in the hundreds of leaders he helped guide ... in the thousands of educators whose careers he helped advance," said former School Board member Neil Sterling. "What he did for us is present in the millions of children that, in his 30-plus-year career, he educated."

Mr. Dandy was the principal of Everglades Junior High and Dillard High schools and the first black deputy superintendent of Broward County schools. He helped lead the school system through one of its most difficult adjustments -- desegregation.

The junior high school he led into integration became his namesake, William Dandy Middle School, when he retired in 1993. Some parents tried to have his name removed from the marquee after police charged him in a hit-and-run accident that killed a woman in 1994. He later pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal accident and received five years' probation.

"William Dandy knew that he was far from being perfect," said the Rev. Raymond Anglin, pastor of Mr. Dandy's church, Ascension Peace Presbyterian in Lauderhill. "But William Dandy knew he was called to perfection."

Born in Georgia and raised in St. Petersburg, Mr. Dandy graduated from Florida A&M; University in 1949. He received a master's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. He met his future wife, Carolyn, in 1959 at Dillard where he was a guidance counselor and she was a teacher. In 1967, he became principal of Everglades Junior High and smoothed the school's tumultuous transition from all black to racially mixed. Six years later, Mr. Dandy was named Dillard principal and again kept racial strife at bay by doing things such as making students sit in alphabetical order so they wouldn't segregate themselves.

He served as Dillard's principal for two years before being promoted to area superintendent and ultimately deputy superintendent -- second in command of Broward schools.

As a guidance counselor at Dillard, Mr. Dandy suspended Robinson's brother. "Mama took [my brother] off the premises and beat him all the way home with a broom," Robinson said of the three-mile walk. "Mr. Dandy gave her the broom."

Robinson, a Fort Lauderdale attorney, also called Mr. Dandy his hero. He said Mr. Dandy taught him the importance of remembering the past while educating children.

A memorial scholarship has been established in his honor.

Akilah Johnson can be reached at akjohnson@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4527.